The celebrated Dom. Mabillon,1 mentioning Bede as a most
illustrious instance of learning in the monastic institute, says: "Who ever
applied himself to the study of every branch of literature, and also to the
teaching of others more than Bede? yet who was more closely united to heaven by
the exercises of piety and religion? To see him pray, says an ancient writer,
one would have thought he left himself no time to study; and when we look at his
books we admire he could have found time to do any thing else but write."
Camden calls him "the singular and shining light," and Leland,
"the chiefest and brightest ornament of the English nation, most worthy, if
any one ever was, of immortal fame." William of Malmesbury tells us, that
it is easier to admire him in thought than to do him justice in expression.
Venerable Bede, called by the ancients Bedan, (who is not to be confounded with
a monk of Landisfarne of the same name2 but older,) was born in 673,
as Mabillon demonstrates from his own writings, in a village which soon, after I
his birth became part of the estate of the new neighboring monastery of Jarrow,
but was gained upon by the sea before the time of Simeon of Durham. St. Bennet
Biscop founded the abbey of St. Peter's at Weremouth, near the mouth of the
Were, in 674, and that of St. Paul's at Girvum, now Jarrow, in 680, on the banks
of the river Tyne, below the Caprae-caput, still called Goat's head, or
Gateshead, opposite to Newcastle. Such a harmony subsisted between the two
houses that they were often governed by the same abbot, and called the same
monastery of SS. Peter and Paul. St. Benne was a man of extraordinary learning
and piety, and enriched these monasteries with a large and curious library which
he had collected at Rome, and in other foreign parts. To his care Bede was
committed at seven years of age, but was afterwards removed to Jarrow, where he
prosecuted his studies under the direction of the abbot Ceolfrid, who had been
St. Bennet's fellow-traveller. Among other able masters, under whom he made
great progress, he names Trumbert, a monk of Jarrow, who had formerly been a
disciple of St. Chad, bishop, first of York, afterwards of Litchfield, who had
established a great school in his monastery of Lestingan in Yorkshire. The
church music, or chant, Bede learned of John, formerly preceptor of St. Peter's
on the Vatican, and abbot of St. Martin's at Rome, whom Pope Agatho had sent
over to England with St. Bennet Biscop. The Greek language our saint must have
learned of Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, and the abbot Adrian, by whose
instruction that language became as familiar to several of their English
scholars as their native tongue. For an instance of which Bede mentions Tobias,
bishop of Rochester. How great a master Bede was of that language appears from
his Ars Metrica, and other works. His poem on St. Cuthbert and other
performances show him to have been a good poet for the age wherein he lived. But
his comments on the holy scriptures, and his sermons prove that the meditation
on the word of God, and the writings of the holy fathers, chiefly engrossed his
time and attention.

His great piety and endowments supplying the defect of age, by the order of
his abbot Ceolfrid, he was ordained deacon in 691, at nineteen years of age, by
St. John of Beverley, who was at that time bishop of Hexham, in which diocese
Jarrow was situated, there being then no episcopal see at Durham. From this time
he continued his studies, till, at thirty years of age, in 702, he was ordained
priest by the same St. John, who was made bishop of Hexham in 685, and bishop of
York in 704. In king Alfred's version Bede is styled Mass-Priest, because it was
his employment to sing every day the conventual mass. He tells us that the holy
abbot and founder, St. Bennet Biscop, like the rest of the brethren, used to
winnow the corn and thrash it, to give milk to the lambs and calves, and to work
in the bake-house, garden, and kitchen. Bede must have sometimes had a share in
such employments, and he was always cheerful, obedient, and indefatigable. But
his studies and writings, with assiduous meditation and prayer, must have
chiefly employed him. He often copied books. From the time that he was promoted
to priestly orders he began to compose books; and he had a great school, in
which he brought up many eminent and holy scholars, and instructed his fellow
monks, who amounted to the number of six hundred. Bede tells us of himself that
he applied himself wholly to the meditation of the holy scriptures, and amidst
the observance of regular discipline, and the daily care of singing in the
church, it was his delight to be always employed either in learning, teaching,
or writing. He says, that from the time of his being made priest, to the
fifty-ninth year of his age when he wrote this, he had compiled several books
for his own use, and that of others, gathering them out of the works of the
venerable fathers, or adding new comments according to their sense and
interpretation. He gives a list of forty-five different works which he had then
composed, of which thirty, and many of those are divided into several books,
consist of comments on the Old and New Testament. He wrote several other works
after this. All the sciences and every branch of literature were handled by him;
natural philosophy, the philosophical principles of Aristotle, astronomy,
arithmetic, the calendar, grammar, ecclesiastical history, and the lives of the
saints; though works of piety make up the bulk of his writings. The ornaments of
rhetoric were not his study; but perspicuity, (the first qualification in
writing,) an unaffected honesty and simplicity, and an affecting spirit of
sincere piety and goodness of heart and charity, run through all his
compositions, and cannot fail to please. An honest candor and love of truth are
so visibly the characteristics of his historical works, that if some austere
critics have suspected him sometimes of credulity, no man ever called in
question his sincerity. If on the scriptures he often abridged or reduced to a
methodical order the comments of St. Austin, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Basil,
and other fathers, this he did, not out of sloth or for want of genius, (as some
later writers have done,) but that he might stick closer to tradition in
interpreting the sacred oracles; and in what he found not done by other eminent
fathers, he still followed their rules lest he should in the least little
deviate from tradition. In the original comments which he wrote, he seems, in
the opinion of good judges, not inferior in solidity and judgment to his ablest
masters among the fathers. John Bale, the apostate Carmelite friar, and the
sworn enemy of the monks and fathers, who was bishop of Ossory under Edward VI.,
and died canon of Canterbury under queen Elizabeth, could not refuse Bede the
highest encomiums, and affirms, that he certainly surpassed Gregory the Great in
eloquence and copiousness of style, and that there is scarce any thing in all
antiquity worthy to be read, which is not found in Bede. Dr. John Pitts3
advances, that Europe scarce ever produced a greater scholar; and that even
while he was living, his writings were of so great authority, that a council
ordered them to be publicly read in the churches. Folchard, a very learned monk
of Christ-church, in Canterbury, and abbot of Thorney, in the days of St. Edward
the Confessor, and the Conqueror, originally from Sithiu, in his Life of St.
John of Beverley, quoted by Leland, says of Bede: "It is amazing how this
great man became so perfect in all the branches of those sciences to which he
applied himself, whereby he conquered all difficulties, and brought those of his
own nation to form right notions; so that from the rude and boorish manners of
their ancestors they began to be exceedingly civilized and polite through their
desire of learning, of which he not only taught them the grounds while living,
but in his works left them a kind of Encyclopaedia (or universal library) for
the instruction of youth after his decease." Fuller writes of him: "He
expounded almost all the Bible translated the Psalms and New Testament into
English, and lived a comment on those words of the apostle,—shining as a light
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation." What we most admire in
Bede is the piety with which he pursued and sanctified his studies, and the use
which he made of them. What he says of St. Chad was a transcript of his own
life, that he studied the holy scriptures so as to meditate assiduously on the
mysteries of faith and the maxims and rules of piety, treasuring up in his heart
the most perfect sentiments of divine love, humility, and all virtues, and
diligently copying them in his whole conduct. Hence his life was a model of
devotion, obedience, humility, simplicity, charity, and penance. He declined the
abbatial dignity which was pressed upon him. Malmesbury gives us a letter of
pope Sergius,4 by which with many honorable expressions he was
invited to Rome, that pope desiring to see and consult him in certain matters of
the greatest importance. This must have happened about the time that he was
ordained priest. Bede out of modesty suppressed this circumstance. What hindered
his journey thither we know not; but we have his word for it that he lived from
his childhood in his monastery without travelling abroad, that is, without
taking any considerable journey. His reputation drew to him many visits from all
the greatest men in Britain, particularly from the pious king Ceolwulph.
Ecgbright, or Egberct, brother to Eadbyrht, king of Northumberland, who was
consecrated archbishop of York in 734, had been a scholar of Bede. At his
pressing invitation our saint went to York, and taught there some months, but
excused himself from leaving his monastery the following year.5 This
school set up at York became very flourishing, and Alcuin, one of its greatest
ornaments, is said to have been himself a scholar of Bede. Our saint died soon
after Ecgbright's accession to the see of York; but lived long enough to write
him a letter of advice upon his advancement. Herein he puts him in mind that it
was a most essential part of his duty to place everywhere able and learned
priests, to labor strenuously himself in feeding his flock, in correcting all
vice, and endeavoring to convert all sinners, and to take care that every one
knew the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, and was thoroughly instructed in the
articles of our holy religion. He gives it as an important piece of advice, that
all among the laity whose lives are pure, (or free from vice,) communicate every
Sunday, and on the festivals of the apostles and martyrs, as he says Ecgbright
had seen practiced at Rome; but Bede requires that married persons prepare
themselves by continence to receive the holy communion,6 which was
formerly a precept repeated in several councils, but is now by disuse looked
upon as no more than a counsel, but a counsel which St. Charles Borromeo
recommends to be inculcated. Bede died within the compass of a year after he
wrote this letter. Cuthbert, called also Antony, one of his scholars, to whom
the saint dedicated his book, De Arte Metrica, wrote to one Cuthwin, a monk, who
had formerly been his schoolfellow under Bede, an account of the death of their
dear master. This Cuthbert was afterwards abbot of Jarrow, in which dignity he
succeeded Huethbert, called also Eusebius, another scholar of Bede.

The letter of Cuthbert7 deserves to have a place in the life of
Bede, though it is here something abridged. "To his most beloved in Christ,
and fellow-reader Cuthwin, his school-fellow Cuthbert wishes eternal salvation
in our Lord. Your small present was very acceptable, and your letter gave me
much satisfaction, wherein I found what I greatly desired, that masses and
prayers are diligently said by you for Bede, the beloved of God, our late father
and master. For the love I bear him, I send you in few words an account of the
manner in which he departed this world, understanding it is what you desire. He
began to be much troubled with a shortness of breath about two weeks before
Easter, yet without pain: thus he lived cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks to
Almighty God every day and night, nay every hour, till the day of our Lord's
Ascension, which was the 26th of May. He daily read lessons to us his scholars;
the rest of the day he spent in singing psalms; he also passed all the night
awake in joy and thanksgiving, only when he was interrupted by a short slumber;
but awaking, he repeated his accustomed exercises, and ceased not to give thanks
to God, with his hands expanded. O truly happy man! He sung that sentence of St.
Paul: It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; and much
more out of holy writ. Being well skilled in English verses he recited some
things in our tongue. He said in English: "No man is too wise to consider
what good or evil he has done, before the necessary departure": that is, to
examine the state of his soul sufficiently before his death. He also sung
anthems according to his and our custom; one of which is: "O glorious King,
Lord of Hosts, who triumphing this day didst ascend above all the heavens, leave
us not orphans; but send down the Father's Spirit of truth upon us:
Alleluia." When he came to that word, "leave us not," he burst
into tears, and wept much; and an hour after he began to repeat the same anthem
he had commenced, and we hearing it, grieved with him. By turns we read, and by
turns we wept; nay, we always wept even when we read. In such joy we passed the
fifty days, and he rejoiced much, and gave God thanks because he deserved to be
so infirm. He often repeated that God scourgeth every son whom he receiveth; and
much more out of the scripture; also that sentence of St. Ambrose: 'I have not
lived so as to be ashamed to live among you; nor am I afraid to die, because we
have a good God.' During these days, besides the daily lessons he gave, and the
singing of psalms. He composed two works for the benefit of the church; the one
was a translation of St. John's gospel into English, as far as those words: But
what are these among so many? the other, some collections out of St. Isidore's
book of notes; for he said, 'I will not have my scholars read a falsehood after
my death, and labor without advantage.' On Tuesday before the Ascension he began
to be much worse in his breathing, and a small swelling appeared in his feet;
but he passed all that day pleasantly, and dictated in school, saying now and
then, 'Go on quickly; I know not how long I shall hold out, and whether my Maker
will soon take me away.' To us he seemed very well to know the time of his
departure. He spent the night awake in thanksgivings. On Wednesday morning he
ordered us to write speedily what he had begun. After this, we made the
procession according to the custom of that day, walking with the relics of the
saints till the third hour, (or nine o'clock in the morning;) then one of us
said to him: 'Most dear master, there is still one chapter wanting. Do you think
it troublesome to be asked any more questions?' He answered: 'It is no trouble.
Take your pen and write fast.' He did so. But at the ninth hour (three in the
afternoon) he said to me: 'Run quickly; and bring all the priests of the
monastery to me.' When they came, he distributed to them some pepper-corns,
little cloths or handkerchiefs, and incense which he had in a little box,
entreating every one that they would carefully celebrate masses and say prayers
for him; which they readily promised to do. They all wept at his telling them,
they should no more see his face in this world; but rejoiced to hear him say:
'It is now time for me to return to him who made me, and gave me a being when I
was nothing. I have lived a long time; my merciful Judge most graciously foresaw
and ordered the course of my life for me. The time of my dissolution draws near.
I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. Yes; my soul desires to see
Christ my king in his beauty.' Many other things he spoke to our edification,
and spent the rest of the day in joy till the evening. The above-mentioned young
scholar, whose name was Wilberth, said to him: 'Dear master, there is still one
sentence that is not written.' He answered, 'Write quickly.' The young man said:
'It is now done.' He replied: 'You have well said; it is at an end: all is
finished. Hold my head, that I may have the pleasure to sit, looking towards my
little oratory where I used to prey; that while I am sitting I may call upon my
heavenly Father, and on the pavement of his little place sing, Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.' Thus he prayed on the floor, and
when he had named the Holy Ghost, he breathed out his soul. All declared that
they had never seen any one die with such great devotion and tranquillity; for
so long as his soul was in his body, he never ceased, with his hands expanded,
to give thanks and praise to God, repeating, Glory be to the Father, &c,
with other spiritual acts. I have many other things I could relate of him; and I
have a thought of writing more amply on this subject," &c.

Ranulph Higden8 relates the manner of his holy departure:
"After teaching all day, it was his custom to watch much in the nights.
Finding by the swelling of his feet that death approached, he received extreme
unction, and then the Viaticum on the Tuesday before the Ascension of the Lord,
and gave the kiss of peace to all his brethren, imploring their pious
remembrance after his death. On the feast of the Ascension, lying on sackcloth
spread on the floor, he invited the grace of the Holy Ghost; and continued in
praise and thanksgiving, in which he breathed forth his holy soul." St.
Bede died in the year 735, of his age sixty-two," on Wednesday evening the
26th of May, after the first vespers of our Lord's Ascension; whence many
authors say he died on the feast of the Ascension; for our Saxon ancestors
reckoned festivals from the first vespers. Thus from repeating the divine
praises here in the most pure and profound sentiments of compunction, humility,
zeal, and love, he passed, as it were without intermission, to sing eternally
the same praises with affections at once infinitely dilated with inexpressible
holy joy, ardor, and love, in the glorious choirs of the blessed, and in the
beatific contemplation of God, whom he praised and loved. His feast was kept in
England in some places on the 26th of May, with a commemoration only in the
office of St. Austin; in others it was deferred to the 27th, on which it occurs
in the Roman Martyrology. In the constitution of John Alcock, bishop of Ely, for
the festivals of his diocese, printed in 1498 by Pynson, Bede's feast is ordered
to be kept with an office on the 13th of March, the day of his death being taken
up by the office of St. Austin. Certain congregations of the Benedictine order
have long kept his office on the 29th of October, perhaps on account of some
translation. On the same day it is celebrated at present in England, and by a
special privilege, the office is said by all English priests who live in foreign
countries, by an indult or grant of pope Benedict XIV. given in 1754; which
grant, at least with regard to those clergymen or regulars who are in England,
was interpreted at Rome to imply a precept.

Alcuin9 having extolled the learning and virtues of this holy
doctor, says that his sanctity was attested by the voice of heaven after his
death; for a sick man was freed from a fever upon the spot by touching his
relics. St. Lullus, archbishop of Mentz, wrote to his scholar Cuthbert, then
abbot of Weremouth and Jarrow, to beg a copy of Bede's works, and sent him a
cloak for his own use, and a silk vest to cover the shrine of this great servant
of God. At that time a vest was a usual present even to kings. Bede was buried
in St. Paul's church in Jarrow, where a porch on the north side bore his name.
In 1020 his sacred remains were conveyed to Durham, and laid in a bag and wooden
trunk in the shrine of St. Cuthbert, as Simeon of Durham relates. In 1155 they
were taken up by Hugh, bishop of Durham, and enclosed in a rich shrine of
curious workmanship, adorned with gold, silver, and jewels, as we learn from the
appendix to the history of Durham, compiled by Simeon of Durham, who wrote from
the memoirs of Turgot the learned prior of Durham in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, made archbishop of St. Andrew's in the reign of the Conqueror, whose
declared enemy he was. Hence Turgot's history has been by some ascribed to him.
At the change of religion in England the shrines of the saints were plundered by
the royal commissioners, but these were anticipated by private robbers in many
places. At the same time the relics were scattered or publicly burned. This
latter part of the commission, which was rigorously executed near the court and
in the southern provinces, was not much regarded in the more remote northern
counties, where they were usually interred in the churches where their shrines
were kept, as we see in St. Cuthbert's, St. John of Beverley's, &c. Speed,
in his Theatre of Britain, says his marble monument subsisted, when he wrote, in
our Lady's chapel in the western part of the church of Durham. Sir George
Wheeler, who died prebendary of Durham, and was a great admirer of Bede
according to his will, is buried within the cathedral, near the foot of Bede's
tomb, and has an inscription, whereas none is now found over St. Bede's. Mr.
Smith has given a type of the remains which are now standing,10 and
another of the altar of St. Cuthbert and St. Bede, delineated from the paintings
of the eastern window.11 Nevertheless, the monks of Glastenbury laid
claim to St. Bede's relics, or a portion of them.12 Boniface calls
St. Bede the lamp of the English church; St. Lullus, Alcuin, and other writers
from the time of his death, exceedingly extol his learning and sanctity. By
Lanfranc and many others he is styled the doctor and father of the English.
Trithemius imagined that the title of "Venerable" was conferred on him
in his lifetime. But Mabillon shows from the silence of all former writers, that
it was begun to be given him, out of a peculiar respect, only in the ninth age,
when it was used by Amalarius, Jonas, Usuard, &c.13 He was styled
Saint, and placed in foreign Martyrologies long before that time, by Hincmar,
Notker,14 in the litany of St. Gall's, &c. Rabanus Maurus
mentions an altar at Fulde, of which Bede was titular saint. The second council
of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 886, calls him "The venerable, and in the modern
times admirable doctor," &c.

It was the happiness of Venerable Bede, that receiving his education under
the direction of saints, by their example, spirit, and instructions he learned
from his infancy the maxims and practice of perfect sanctity. St. Chrysostom15
wished that parents would breed up their children in monasteries till they are
to be produced in the world. Several Roman senators, and other noblemen,
committed the education of their sons to St. Bennet. The most austere and
regular monasteries have been chosen by virtuous parents of the first rank,
whose principal desire was that their children should be brought up among
saints, where their passions would be in no danger of being flattered, and where
their minds would be filled with Christian verities and Christ's spirit, and
their hearts formed to piety grounded in the love, and exercised in habits of
all virtues. This is the first and essential advantage which parents are bound
to procure their children, upon which their temporal and eternal happiness
depends, and all other advantages and qualifications are to be founded. Let them
not be neglected, but let this be secured in the first place, and at all rates.